Ranger Chronicles of Sirion
by Crouton-Robber
Summary: Ranger Patrols from Sirion are suppossed to watch for invasions. Not stop them. Please RR, as it is my first Fic.
1. And So It Begins

I.  
  
"Damn rain"  
  
Major Therrin Seagle, of the Sirion Ranger Patrol, drew his cloak tighter around his chest as he trudged through the woods and down a hill that lined the bank of the Testerian River. He was a strong man, with black hair and blue eyes and about the age of twenty-nine. He had been promoted early to help foster the growth of the Rangers and it had helped that he had already been a "hell of a fighter" as a squire in the Knights of Sirion. So he had taken command and was sent out six months ago to patrol the fairly unsettled border between Sirion, one of the plains kingdoms, and Mindra, that was slightly north and east of Sirion, and their bitter enemies.  
  
Behind Therrin, one of his lieutenants slipped and fell in the downpour. "Great," Gais Gastry, the second youngest of the group, muttered with a touch of sarcasm, "Now, not only am I soaked to the bone; my cloak's a big muddy mess now, too." He pulled mud from his black hair and wiped mud out of his eyes and all two-hundred pounds of him slouched in disgust. He was fairly large but surprisingly instead of being a melee expert, he was an archer. He said it's from his days fighting off the Mindrans during the third invasion at the siege of Bastarrie. Apparently, Gais had been one of the few who could snipe off the enemy soldiers when they thought they were out of accepted accurate range. Bastarrie eventually fell, and Gais was brutally beaten to within inches of his life, so he kept himself strong to make sure it never happened again. And, to help him augment his archer skills and to show off his strength, he had crafted himself a beautiful composite longbow.  
  
"Quit your complaining Gais, here grab on to my hand!" Corporal Maxwell Reilly, the tallest one of the Patrol, youngest, and fastest, offered his hand and pulled Gais to his feet. Maxwell had been raised in Mindran territory during the third invasion, when he was fifteen, and the Mindran soldiers had caught him and his family running to Sirion. He was the only one fast enough to make it to the borders and cross into Siriron. As such, he was the most laid back of the group, since he figured no one could complain about the situation unless they went through what he had gone through.  
  
"We're all wet Gais, after all it's been raining for three days now," he laughed.  
  
Another Lieutenant, Ponch Essard, withdrew the hood of his cloak, revealing a mass of wet brown hair and brown eyes and said "Has it only been that bloody long? It feels like it's been three years not days. And the nearest settlement isn't for another six miles, if those maps are still correct." Ponch was considered the practical one of the Patrol. Unlike the rest of the Rangers, he had received an education when he was younger and it showed. However, most people wondered why he ran away to join the Rangers when he had such a promising future ahead of him.  
  
Therrin turned around and aimed a fake punch at Essard, "Of course the maps are right, you big dumb ox, and we got them two weeks ago from that logger heading back to the capitol. Not much could have changed since then." Then, crashing in the bushes caused everyone to drop to a squatting position.  
  
"Great, more mud," Gais whispered. Ponch hit him upside the head and motioned for him to be quiet.  
  
"Troll! A damned troll!" Sergeant Major Alexander Kiffle shouted as he crested the hill that the patrol was heading down and sprinted down to their position. "Major, beg to report sir," he saluted and the Major nodded. "Well sir, bringing up the rear, I thought I heard a little bit of crashing noise, so I stayed back a little more and decided to hide in some bushes. I stayed there for about a half an hour and-" He coughed and opened a flask of brandy and took a swig. "Sorry sir, cold and everything. Anyway I'm hiding in these bushes and all of the sudden; the troll's right on top of me! Well I sprinted away, and the thing followed me I think, but I know I gained a lot of ground on it."  
  
Therrin clapped Kiffle on the back. "Good work Alex, but whether we're out of its way or not, we need to kill the thing so it doesn't threaten the fisherman and loggers on the bank." He stood and drew his bow. "Maxwell, you and me in one group, we'll go to the left with bows out. Gais and Kiffle, to the right, at least one with bow out and Ponch, you can take care of yourself better than any of us can in a scrap, and you've got the best eyesight out of all of us here, so head straight up the middle. If it really is following Kiffle, he should crest the hill soon, and we'll fill him full of arrows, but make sure you aren't firing on each other okay? Go now!"  
  
They all started to run; four around the base of the hill and Ponch straight up the hill, all trying as hard as possible to be quiet. Once on top of the hill, Ponch took cover behind some trees and drew his longsword and rapier. Seeing that the rest of the patrol had similar cover he looked around trying to spot the troll. It wasn't that hard. The troll was making his way, slowly, to the base of the hill opposite Ponch. He whistled and stood up in plain view throwing stealth to the wind and rain. That served two purposes. One, it got the trolls attention and two; it signaled to the others that he found the thing.  
  
The troll stopped and looked at the shape that had whistled. Trolls were actually hard to spot occasionally because of the greenish tint to their skin, but not when one is moving and especially when all nine foot of troll is standing straight up. But this troll, being no intelligent being failed to realize this fact, so with a roar he bared his claws and charged up the hill and Ponch.  
  
Ponch braced for impact with the troll and when it reached him, he swung his longsword in a quick cut across the chest, but he missed slightly and the toll swung back knocking Ponch to his feet. Fortunately, he was expecting the blow and he quickly recovered in time to see Gais madly fire three arrows at the troll. One hit the troll in the shoulder causing the troll to look away from Ponch and get confused quite quickly. Ponch took advantage of this and jabbed his rapier in the troll's gut, and slashing his longsword across its chest. This only served to madden the troll and in swung madly slamming its claws into Ponch and throwing him against a tree.  
  
Down on the right, Gais fired another three arrows, but missed all three times.  
  
"Sar Major! You had better go help Ponch, this looks bad!" he shouted and went to draw another arrow.  
  
Kiffle fired the shot he was trying to place the entire fight and hit the troll in the leg, distracting it, even though it was far from where he had intended the shot to hit.  
  
"Yeah, I know," Kiffle grunted as he dropped his pack and sprinted up the hill, drawing his long and short swords. It took a while for the troll to recover from the shot in the leg and by the time he had broken it off, Kiffle was on him swinging expertly. He widened the gap in its gut and slashed its arm multiple times before an arrow fired by Maxwell impacted the troll in the eye. The troll, now fully and completely enraged, swung violently sinking its claws straight into Kiffle's chest, despite his armor. It then bit him, mixing the massive amounts of blood flowing from it with now unconscious Kiffle's many wounds and the rain.  
  
Seeing this happen, Major Therrin cursed loudly, dropped his pack, and sprinted up the hill slipping once or twice, unlike the sure footed Kiffle. Behind him, Maxwell fired another shot striking the troll deep in the throat and in conjunction with Gais' last arrow in the pectoral muscle of the troll, caused it to fall to its knees. By this time Therrin had reached the top of the hill and with one mighty swing of his scimitar, decapitated it. He knelt next to the Sar Major and winced. The troll's claws had sunk deep into his chest. Immediately he started working Kiffle's armor off as Maxwell knelt next to Ponch and tossed the Major his healing kit and pack. Gais also had run up the hill with the Sar Major's pack.  
  
"Alright, Gais over here, you're going to have to help me with Alexander," Therrin waved. Ponch groaned and sat up slightly as Maxwell put bandages on his head.  
  
"Major," he whispered, "Take my dagger. If you look at the troll, he's missing a claw. It's in Kiffle and you're going to need my dagger to get it out." He threw the dagger and Therrin picked it up.  
  
"Thanks Lieutenant. Can you walk?"  
  
"In a minute, sir," he sighed deeply and lifted his arm so Maxwell could help him up. Maxwell threw his arm around him and helped him up, and then the two walked over to the troll to retrieve his weapons.  
  
"Gais, grab that pouch there, the off-white one," Therrin pointed and Gais handed it to him. Therrin opened the bag and stuffed the herbs contained therein into the wound that had contained the troll's claw. Gais examined the claw.  
  
"Oh no, Major? The reason this claw came off is because it's a metal battle claw. This troll belonged to someone," he held up the claw for Therrin to examine. The claw was long, nasty and part of a hand augmentation that appeared to have been magically grafted into the troll. It was covered in blood from when it ripped off of its hand, and from when it had plunged its pointed end into the Sergeant Major.  
  
"We know who," Maxwell called from next to the corpse. "This thing was chained up. It broke its chains but the ID branding is still there. This is a Mindran battle troll. They only give those to their advance units. I'm actually surprised he's not better equipped with things other than those metal claws."  
  
Gais and Therrin hoisted the Sar Major onto a field stretcher made of two long sticks and a blanket and covered him with another blanket to protect the bandages from the rain. "Well then," the Major grunted, "I'm sure the Mindrans will come looking for this thing, and when they do, they will pass over the borders into our villages. We need to get to that village, Kira, is its name. Take the Sar Major's pack Ponch, and Maxwell, help him along. This rain could really mess up our whole trip." 


	2. The Plot Thickens

II.  
  
"Explain to me, in your own words how this happened," stated Colonel Geissen to the forth scared private that day. Geissen was pushing fifty years old and graying hair, but he was still a cunning fighter and was held in high regard by his superiors for that fact. Of course, it helped that he had participated and lived in the last two of three invasions of Sirion. As embarrassing as the outcomes to those two invasions were. He supposed that was why he was in command of this company, now based out of Kira, and specifically, the Homely Inn, which until the Mindrans had taken over, had a neutral stance in the Mirdra/Sirion conflicts. Of course, that neutral stance was helped along by the few oddly placed death threats. It never hurt to cow your new underlings.  
  
The private gulped and wiped the sweat from his brow. He still had his black armor on, even though he was unarmed. Geissen figured he'd present the same story as the others, even though he was an orc, who had a pension for lying to get out of trouble. Geissen had no problem with Mindra's alliance with the orcs, as long as they were obedient and trustworthy. And the orcs under his command were defiantly trustworthy and obedient.  
  
"Well sir, um, we were loading the trolls into the stables down the road and well, Private Gads got lazy I suppose and didn't call the mage to check the charms on the trolls. I suppose he figured that they were calm enough already. Well, anyway, um, Gads opened the gate of the carrier wagon and the two trolls inside came charging out. They had somehow snapped their chains and they, um, decapitated Gads sir. Well, most of us were weaponless so we scattered and both trolls ran off, but they killed four or five more men. Our trackers found that one had apparently killed the other some distance from here. That's about it sir."  
  
Geissen sighed. "Very well private, dismissed." That was the problem with under trained trolls, he mused. You can't control them if the permanent charms haven't been properly placed. And the charms on ours weren't properly placed. Of course, it doesn't help that we were given the cheapest and most untrained units as possible. He leaned forward in his chair. He finished the incident report and signed it, marking as a postscript the ineptness of Mindra's mages.  
  
Dammit, I need more men! He reflected. Mindra was attempting to extend and reinforce its borders along the Testerian River and to do so they needed the use of his advance company. On the way to Kira, the town the company was now stationed in, they encountered a Knight of Solaris expedition and were brought down to sixty or so men by their hit-and-run tactics. Plus, his superiors knew of the Ranger Patrols that passed through these areas, but they did not know the number that these patrols carried. Therefore, the incident was very costly to him. He lost two trolls to that conflict and now the other two. Mindra City Headquarters was not going to like the request for more. Even though the trolls were scantly equipped, the trolls were expensive to capture, breed, maintain, and train so it was doubtful he was going to get what he asked for. Even so he called for a runner.  
  
When the man walked in Geissen gave him a scroll container. "Here you go corporal. The incident report, the request for reinforcements and the weekly report are all here, just so you know what you're carrying. Please emphasize to headquarters that summer is soon to set in, and Sirion patrols will be more frequent, as they will want to check on their new towns. Also, tell them that we were harassed by a group of bandits coming in here, and inform them we may not be alone in this town as Sirion spies may be present."  
  
The runner saluted, "Yes, sir! I should be back in the next few days, sir," and with that he left for his horse. Geissen stepped out into the sunlight from the Homely Inn and smiled. Work was going well. The town was on the bank of the Testerian and surrounded by forest, but his men were steadily cutting the forest down to finish the walls that were being erected. They were going to turn this town into a front line base, since Mindra was going to need a forward post, and Geissen's company had advanced the furthest, they started the fastest.  
  
Geissen nodded at two orcish privates passing by who were carrying wood and turned to follow him. He figured that if he helped with the construction of the wall, he would keep his strength up instead of just sitting in the Inn all day. He stretched his muscles, picked up a hammer and smiled. ________________________________________________________________________  
  
They arrived outside the 'village' at nightfall. Tired, hungry, and still in the woods that bordered the village, Therrin's patrol was eager to take refuge in the inn. The only thing that had gone the better for the Patrol was that it had quit raining and they were starting to dry out.  
  
"Yeah Major, what a 'village.' And you said that logger's maps would be correct," Ponch grunted, now, instead of being supported by Maxwell, he had a walking stick that he was leaning heavily on.  
  
Therrin shot him a glare. "How was I supposed to know this place had grown that much. After all, that logger gave me his word." Therrin, who was leading the line, walked back to look at Kiffle, still being carried on the strecher. At the moment, he was conscious although he was fading in and out of consciousness even after almost forty minutes of medical work by Therrin. Therrin motioned for Gais and Maxwell to set him down for a moment.  
  
"Sir," Gais asked, "Can I go in the town and alert and doctors they might have to aid the Sar Major?"  
  
Therrin nodded. "Yes, but be quiet about it. Just one doctor or cleric or whatever. We don't want to alert any possible Mindran spies." Gais nodded, drew his cloak about him, crouched, and started to pace towards the town.  
  
Therrin crouched next to Kiffle and checked his bandages. They too were drying out and luckily, throughout the trip, none of them had ripped. Kiffle rolled his head towards the Major.  
  
"Therrin. I'm okay, just let me-" his eyes went wide, "Major, Gais, look out!" he croaked, and then fell out of consciousness.  
  
The patrol surrounding Kiffle looked up in time to see a shadowy jump from the middle of a bush and tackle Gais. Gais grunted, but managed to rise slightly and threw the figure from him. He then drew his sword and placed it against his assailants throat.  
  
The man looked at Gais and smiled.  
  
"Hello Gais, haven't seen you in a while." The man reached up to his collar and unbuttoned his cloak. Falling away, it revealed armor bearing the Sirion Ranger Crest.  
  
Gais smiled and withdrew his blade. Reaching down he helped the man up and dusted him off. Then with a roar, he gave the man a bear hug, which lifted him off of the ground and shouted, "Krem, you bastard! I haven't seen you since Training Weeks. What the hell kind of joke was this, eh?" He released his vice grip on the man, now known as Krem, as the rest of the patrol ran up to see what exactly was happening.  
  
Krem motioned for silence and then fell into a crouched position. He gestured for the others to do the same, and when Maxwell and Therrin had set Kiffle's stretcher down, he began to whisper.  
  
"Gais, good to see you. I believe I'm the captain in charge of the Patrol that was intended to relieve you."  
  
Therrin got a good look at the man when he whispered. He was defiantly from Sirion, the pale skin being a trademark of the country, and he was short. Black hair was in stark contrast to the piercing blue eyes and finished off with a muscle tone of one who has been in the woods for a time. Therrin nodded and held out his hand and Krem took it. "Judging from your armor," Therrin began and the fact that Gais knows you, you're not a spy. So I can believe your story. But why the silence? What's in these woods that you don't like?"  
  
"Well sir, I suppose it would be the Black Legion presence here. I'll have to explain later, but right now we need to move into the village." He hopped off of the game trail they were meeting on and signaled for the Therrin's men to follow. He then turned and disappeared.  
  
Therrin turned to Gais, "Your friend is awful secrective," the major stated, "But is he a good man under harsh conditions?"  
  
They stood and turned to help Ponch up and Ponch winced with pain, but still sqeaked out, "Who the hell cares for right now, if he's a spy, at least we'll find out when we're healthy."  
  
Gais laughed and turned to help Maxwell with the stretcher. "Major," he said, "Krem was the smartest, fastest man in our class and damn near the strongest. I'd trust him with my life all right."  
  
The five of Therrin's Patrol headed into the deep brush after Krem and found him looking around. He moved to take over Maxwell's position on the stretcher.  
  
"Oof, he's a heavy bastard," Krem said as he repositioned himself to bear the weight more.  
  
Maxwell, who had heard the captain grunt, just smiled to himself and said "Try it for six miles captain."  
  
Then, going in a far arc away from town, Krem led them away from any prying eyes before he cut back to the edge of the forest and motioned for them to be quiet and get down. Setting Kiffle down with Maxwell, he turned to the group. "Welcome lads, to the town of Kira, currently under control of the Mindran Black Legions. Luckily, half the people in the town like me. And Sirion. And the rest don't know me. Or Sirion. But the Innkeeper likes me an awful lot and she's been supplying me ever since the Legions arrived."  
  
With that he and Maxwell picked up Kiffle and sprinted for the back door of the inn. When he was there, he turned and motioned for the rest of them to do the same. Gais sprinted and made it to the door okay and then turned to see if Therrin and Ponch needed help, which they did not. Therrin practically carried Ponch the whole way but they made it, and withdrew into the cellar portions of the Inn.  
  
As soon as they Krem signaled all was safe, the entire Patrol practically collapsed onto the cellar floor, Therrin gave Krem a hard look and sighed out, "Okay, Krem, why are Mindran troops in our town? What's this all about?"  
  
_____________________________________________________________________  
  
~Crouton Note~  
  
Hah! Update correcting the crapiness. I think. I don't know, I updated late at night too sooooo.. And sorry for lack of chapters. School started and writing papers takes precedence over stories. Unfortunatley. 


	3. Falling In

III.  
  
Kiffle shivered as the Cleric of Solaris bent over him on Krem's cot and the holy energy washed away his wounds and his pain. The Patrol was resting in the Inn, although Krem had left to procure cots and extra food for the new residents of the Inn. The only return trip he had made was to deliver the cleric, who had in less than a half an hour, patched every wound of the Patrol's and brought Kiffle back to full health.  
  
The cleric held his hand out to Kiffle and helped him up. The cleric was actually fairly small, so he gave the impression that he was not one of the Knights of Solaris, the religions famed elite warrior corps. Either way, they couldn't tell, seeing as how the man's cloak covered his armor, except for his gauntlets, which were sitting on the table, since he needed gloves off to heal.  
  
"Now, stretch, slowly, to your toes."  
  
Kiffle, bare-chested, complied and the cleric nodded. "Now," he held up a board, "Could you punch through this normally?"  
  
The Sargeant Major nodded and flexed. He was the second strongest of the patrol after Gais, and he could break bodies, much less boards. Either way though, he shattered the board with one swing, and made it look easy. The cleric dropped the wood to pick shavings out of his beard and everyone chuckled.  
  
"Boy," Maxwell put a sarcastic tone on, "If you could learn to shoot like you can break things, you'd be an excellent archer. Golly, I could teach you how to do both."  
  
Kiffle gave him a sideways look and put on a foul grin. "Listen runt," he grunted, "You think you can teach me how to fight, and then I can teach you how to shove an arrow up your posterior. I'd lay off the insults if I were you."  
  
Therrin grinned at Maxwell's reaction to curl up in a ball in a corner of the cellar. "Well," he looked at Ponch, "At least spirits are high now that we're all feeling better."  
  
Ponch nodded but then mused, "Yeah, but I still want to know why Mindra has moved troops this far south-west. It doesn't make tactical sense to move a lone group in, when we could move a Calvary Regiment up here fast and clear them out." He stood and walked over to where the cleric had deposited his armor and bags, and pulled out a map case. Gais did the same, since he overheard the conversation. Both came back over with maps of the area.  
  
"Well, my map doesn't seem to even have Kira on it," Gais said. "But the Mindran troops could've just marched more easterly, and taken Biston, and that would've given them control of the whole river." He pointed at the town of Biston and continued, "That would've been a great staging area for another stupid invasion down fairly far into our lands."  
  
Therrin nodded but Ponch shook his head.  
  
"Gais, as much sense as that makes, think about how much racket that would make. If they capture a little ant town, they can make it into a bustling river port without anyone ever noticing. And I think that might be what they're trying to do."  
  
Therrin pointed at Ponch's map. "Yes and look. Even though in actual distance, the capitol is closer from Biston, they have to cross miles and miles of swampland. They've tried that approach before, back when our borders extended beyond the river, and failed because of the swamps. They might be staging another invasion from more west, and speed their way to Firiona."  
  
Krem's voice came from the cellar door, where Kiffle was giving his regards to the Solarian cleric.  
  
"Indeed Therrin, I believe that is their strategy. And don't forget, those swamplands border Nozin, and the gnomes and dwarves will fight hard to keep any Mindran out of their lands."  
  
He came in and shut the door, allowing the cleric to pass through first. He turned and tossed a rolled up cot to each one of the Patrol.  
  
"The innkeeper will provide food for us, but she says she can't divert too much, otherwise she'll run out too fast. Apparently this is a Mindran soldier hotspot." Ponch gave him a 'how do you not know this kind of look' and Krem answered, "I usually sleep during the day and roam during the night, it's easier to sneak around than in full light."  
  
Gais gave Ponch an appraising, sarcastic look, and said "Duh, Ponch. Everyone knows that. Geez, I expected better." Ponch chucked a cot peg at him and Gais took it straight in the face. Gais picked it up and threw it back, but Ponch caught it, and they all burst into laughter. Except Therrin. "Some soldiers." he muttered. Everyone heard the comment and buckled down to setting up a makeshift barracks.  
  
"Boy," Maxwell whispered to Ponch, "People get cranky after they turn thirty. Gais snickered and Therrin shot him a look. Cots were set up and gear and armor was hung on posts and pegs. Then, Therrin and Krem set up a map table in the center of the cellar, which they discovered had three rooms to it, to plan and discuss. The first order of business was Krem's story. The patrol stood around the table and grabbed mugs of ale from the ample supply around the cellar.  
  
Krem cleared his throat and began his tale, "Well, I've been here for two weeks now. My Patrol and I came up skirting the swamps, crossed the Testerian, and continued westerly along it. We got here, and we were welcomed for about two days, and then the Mindran advance troops showed up." He pointed to Gais' map, now marked with Kira on it, and drew a line with his finger northwesterly on the map. "Believe it or not, these troops came from this direction, but -"  
  
Gais' eyes went wide, "But that means they're trying to further pacify the Kordin Tribe Lands," He pointed to the spot on the map that was west of the Minsin Moutains, and sighed, "If they have enough troops to pacify the horse rovers up there, and can still send troops down here."  
  
Maxwell finished for him, "The Northern Territories could be in some serious trouble."  
  
Krem nodded. "That brings me to the next part of my story. I started hiding under the bar during the day, and discovered that this expedition was led by a Colonel Geissen. I gathered numbers of their men and gave them to my fastest Ranger. He left, and I told him not to come back. I started gathering more and more information, and when I discovered that this was a possible staging point, I sent the other three of my patrol away."  
  
Ponch nodded and thought out loud, "And you stayed here, waiting for us." He took a drink of his own ale, and said, "Well, I'd say we have quite a lot of information here. Now, what can we do with it?"  
  
Stepping out of the circle, Therrin went over to the door, and looked out. It was near sunrise. He shook his head and spoke, "We need to stay, and stop this any way possible. I'm personally thinking night attacks. Krem, what about you?"  
  
Smiling, Krem walked over to the door, and pulled it shut. He smiled and patted Therrin on the shoulder. "By my blade, Therrin, I thought you'd never ask. I've been waiting for this opportunity for a while. Unfortunatley, it would appear that the next part of construction on the wall will be enclosing this Inn, which makes it awfully difficult for us to get in and out. So we need to act fast."  
  
Therrin nodded and started forming plans rapidly, "Okay," he said, "We need to make." But Maxwell interrupted by turning and jumping on his cot.  
  
Smiling, he said, "Major, Captain, this is all fine and good, but we're not going to be able to do a damn thing if we don't get some sleep, and I for one am so tired, I could sleep for a month."  
  
The rest of the men smiled and Therrin nodded, "Well then, we'll sleep throughout the day. Krem, I'm sure you have a few targets in mind for us. We'll hit something tonight, but for right now, we sleep." And with that he flopped down on his cot, and once Ponch put the candles out, he was asleep in seconds. ________________________________________________________________________  
  
Geissen wolfed down his breakfast at the Inn. It was his favorite, hot cakes with fried potatoes. Besides he needed to be fast in order to start the Kira "volunteer" Mindran militia. He needed to replenish his numbers so he figured the only way to do that was to recruit some of the local fishermen that sold their stocks in the town. After all, the prisoners were under impressments, and they weren't going to fight, just do manual labor, and would have to be kept in line by beating. He didn't want the same for the Kiran locals.  
  
He finished and gave the Innkeeper a smile and a thank you, and raced upstairs to his room, in order to don his armor. Running up the stairs he reflected on how the idea had just hit him last night in bed. He loved the idea, and he figured it would put his soldiers on a greater stance of physical and mental perfection, because every soldier hates the idea of some local boy beating them out.  
  
He donned his armor himself. He wasn't as vain or as weak as some of the other officers in the Mindran Army and he felt the need to go in full regalia. After all, he needed to look like the full Black Legion officer that he was, even if he did fry.  
  
Belting his sword on, he left the inn with two privates, with no clue to what would happen when he would return.  
  
________________________________________________________________________  
  
~Crouton Note~  
  
Dammit, another late nighter chapter. I gotta stop that. But in the middle of an American History report, and an English paper on SYMBOLISM. no less. Sooo. only time I could write it. Sucks to be me. 


End file.
